Sugar Rush
by Sei Bellissima
Summary: Kirby gets a lollipop one day—much to the happiness of him and his mentor, Meta Knight. Unfortunately, the pink puff drops it on the ground, rendering it dirty. Not liking to see the child so sad, Meta Knight sets out to find Kirby a new one... should be simple, right?
1. Sweet Gone Sour

"So this is for me?"

Meta Knight wasn't known to come to town very often, but he had been trying to do so more frequently as of late—Fumu had told him it would make him seem more "friendly." Even so, the Cappies usually left him alone, not only because they knew well that the knight wasn't very social, but also because they typically didn't need to talk to him about anything. So let's say that the knight was pretty surprised when a young Cappy girl came up to him offering a lollipop.

"Yup! Mommy told me to give this to someone who was alone, so it would cheer them up!" said the girl proudly, clearly determined to complete her assigned task. Once more, she shoved the sugary treat into the knight's face in hopes that he would accept it.

Now, Meta Knight loved sweets (not that anyone else knew it), but this lollipop was just ridiculous. It wasn't one of those lollipops that you would get from the doctor after an appointment—no, it was one of those huge things that were the size of your _face,_ and cost a ridiculously high price at most stores—a treat so sweet and sugary it was enough to make a diabetic cower in fear.

But the Star Warrior couldn't bring himself to upset a child—that would be foolish of him, now wouldn't it?

"Uh, thanks," the knight said, hesitantly accepting the oversized candy. Immediately a bright smile lit up the girl's face.

"Yay! Now I can go tell Mommy that I made someone happy!" she exclaimed, bouncing giddily on her feet. She eagerly scrambled away, leaving the confused knight in her dust.

But Meta Knight's confusion quickly turned into panic: he was in the middle of town, in plain sight for everyone to see him! What would everyone think when they saw him holding a lollipop of that size? He needed to think up a plan before he became the target of any questions, or he was guaranteed to embarrass himself in front of everybody!

"Poyo!"

The knight could recognize that adorable voice anywhere: that was Kirby! He could give the lollipop to the younger puffball! Kirby was known for being hungry pretty much all of the time, so no way would the child turn down a free treat.

Meta Knight carefully scanned the crowd of Cappies, watching for the telltale sign of pink. There! Kirby was sprinting away from the toy store, straight towards him!

Within seconds the pink puff was at his mentor's side, a huge grin on his face—he was clearly happy to see Meta Knight. "Hi, Kni-kni!" was his greeting, to which his mentor responded with a heartfelt chuckle. His smile quickly disappeared, however, and turned into a look of curiosity—he had spotted the lollipop in Meta Knight's hand. He pointed to the candy and babbled something unintelligible, but the blue puffball could tell that he was asking about it.

"I wasn't planning on eating this… did you want it?" Meta Knight said as he gestured to the lollipop, hoping that Kirby would take the hint.

And, much to the knight's relief, Kirby wasted no time in snatching the lollipop from his mentor's grasp. Immediately the pink puff stuck the whole thing into his mouth and made a sound that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a muffled squeal—obviously the little guy was extremely happy.

His student's joy was contagious, as Meta Knight soon found himself smiling too. "Glad you like it buddy," he said as he stooped down and rubbed the pink puff's head. He stood up and started to take his leave, but stopped dead in his tracks when he felt a gentle tug on his arm. He turned to find Kirby, lollipop in hand, azure eyes wide and pleading.

"Kni-kni, beach?" asked the child, his eyes growing wider and more heart-melting.

Ah, the beach—Kirby had been asking Meta Knight to go there a lot lately. The knight wasn't sure if it was because the pink puff liked going there or if he just wanted to spend time with his mentor. Either way, Meta Knight didn't mind; whenever they did go, the two shared some precious bonding time together.

The knight nodded in response to the child, who jumped with glee and started sprinting down the path that led to the beach. Meta Knight was unable to keep himself from smiling again as he starting running across the path, too.

* * *

The two puffballs had stopped running after a while, only because both of them had run out of breath. Right now, they were leisurely strolling along the road and admiring the beautiful scenery and vibrant wildlife along the way. Kirby was still enjoying his giant lollipop—well, trying to enjoy it. The candy was a tad too large for Kirby to swallow whole like he usually would. Admittedly, it was very adorable watching the child gnaw furiously on the lollipop.

After a few minutes, they both had reached the beach. They were greeted by the pleasant sight of palm trees swaying in the breeze and the fresh smell of the salty sea air.

Kirby stuck his lollipop back into his mouth and dove into the sand. He took some of the sand in his paws and tossed it up into the air around him, but he lost his balance and subsequently fell onto his back.

The child's antics made Meta Knight chuckle in amusement. It was hard not to; the child acted like this all the time—silly and playful, yet consistently happy. It was part of what made Kirby, well… Kirby.

While the pink puff continued to play in the sand, Meta Knight sat down near a palm tree, deciding that he may as well relax while he's here. He watched the pleasant sight of waves gently lapping against the shore as the ocean breeze brushed up against him, making him sigh in contentment. But that's when something caught his eye—a speck of red, standing out amongst the white sand.

That was no speck of red, either: it was an ugly, large, unruly crustacean—a crab. It was scampering across the sand at a surprisingly quick pace with its razor-sharp claws out it front of it, ready to attack. The worst part? It was headed straight for Kirby—it must've thought that the pink puff was invading on its territory.

The next few moments seemed to pass by in slow motion: the crab reached its target of attack and immediately pinched the child's paw. Kirby, panic-stricken by the crab's surprise assault, yanked the lollipop out of his mouth and let out a pained scream—it was so loud that it scared Meta Knight onto his feet and made his protective instincts kick in. Before he knew it, the knight found himself by his student's side.

After making sure that the crab was taken care of (speaking of which, it was now fleeing the scene of crime), Meta Knight held Kirby close in attempts to comfort the scared child. The pink puff was whimpering uncontrollably and rubbing his paw, still shaken from the surprise attack.

"Shh, Kirby, it's okay. Here, let me see," soothed Meta Knight as he tried to gently pry Kirby's paw closer to himself so he could take a better look at it.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Kirby held out his paw, allowing his mentor to inspect it. It had become red at the spot where the crab had pinched it, but was nowhere close to being seriously injured.

"You'll be fine, Kirby," assured Meta Knight as he drew the child into one last comforting hug. But as he did, he mentally facepalmed himself for panicking over something so small. After a few minutes, the child calmed down, and the two puffballs pulled away from each other.

What Kirby did next confused Meta Knight, though: the child turned around and looked down at the sand. In fact, it seemed like Kirby was searching for something. What could it possibly be?

That's when both of them spotted Kirby's lollipop in the sand, a few inches away from where they were standing. It was completely covered in sand, making it pretty much unedible.

Kirby didn't appear to care, as he made a break for the candy as soon as he laid eyes on it.

Right before the child reached the lollipop, though, he bumped harshly into his mentor and landed on his bottom. The knight loomed over the child, yellow eyes narrowed and arms crossed. "You're not eating that anymore, Kirby. It's dirty," Meta Knight said sternly.

The pink puff pouted. "Poyo, Kni-kni," he said in protest, trying to walk around his mentor.

"No," replied the knight, stepping in front of Kirby.

"Poyo!" retorted the child angrily, but Meta Knight was having none of it.

" _No."_

" _POY-"_

" _Kirby, NO!"_

Said puffball froze in his tracks after those last words, which were much louder than anyone would expect out of the usually quiet Meta Knight. The child's enraged expression then faded and turned into something indiscernible to the knight…

Wait—that was the dreaded quiver-lip, wasn't it?

Next came the puppy-dog eyes, growing shinier and more heart-melting with each passing second. Then came the sound of whimpering, along with the trembling. Finally, surprisingly loud, heartbreaking sobs escaped the child's lips as Kirby started crying—an extremely rare sight to see. Still, it was enough to painfully wrench Meta Knight's insides with guilt—that sad, twisted grimace did not look right on little Kirby's face. At all.

Thinking quickly, Meta Knight pulled the distraught puffball into a comforting hug – an action he was becoming too fond of – and attempted to soothe the child with both an apology and assuring words. "Ah, Kirby, shh, I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry..."

The knight's words didn't seem to have any effect—Kirby only pressed his face against his mentor's mask and continued his bawling.

That's when Meta Knight realized he needed to toughen up and take action, as the child was basically crying over spilled milk—dropped candy, in this case. "Kirby." No response. "Kirby, buddy, I need you to stop crying and listen to me for a moment."

The child finally looked up at his mentor through his tears, his body still shaking with choked-out sobs. "You need to understand that when food falls onto the ground, it gets dirty. If you decide to eat it anyway, you could become sick. Trust me, you don't want that happening. That's why I don't want you eating that lollipop anymore—it's dirty. Do you understand?" Meta Knight explained softly, carefully wiping some of Kirby's tears away as he did so.

The child remained silent for what seemed like an eternity, making Meta Knight afraid that his explanation had no effect. But he was soon able to breathe a sigh of relief, as Kirby gave him a hesitant nod.

"Alright, good," said Meta Knight as he patted the pink puff's shoulder. Despite the child having stopped crying, Meta Knight couldn't help but still feel a twinge of guilt: Kirby was looking longingly at the lollipop in the sand, with a huge frown and a downcast expression. It was almost painful to see, and the knight didn't like that. Perhaps he could take the initiative in helping little Kirby feel better.

"Okay, Kirby, how about I get you a new one?"

It was like a switch had been flipped: instantly Kirby's sorrowful expression faded into a beaming smile, and he ran into his mentor with brute force and gave a tight hug, making Meta Knight grunt. "Tank-yuuu," he said adorably, causing yet another smile to find its way to his mentor's face.

After shaking his head in amusement, Meta Knight rubbed the pink puff's head affectionately. "Save it for later," he said. With some effort, he was able to pry the clingy child off of himself. Kirby fidgeted with excitement, thrilled at the fact that Meta Knight would be getting another lollipop.

Meta Knight started walking down the path that would lead back to town, but paused when he noticed Kirby wasn't coming. He turned, and a flash of pink instantaneously flew by, startling him and making him lose his balance. He turned back around to see Kirby sprinting down the path at jet-speed, the child's jovial shouts echoing throughout the summer air. "Kirby! Wait up!" Meta Knight shouted, chasing after the child whose energy seemed to know no bounds.

Unfortunately, the already exasperated Meta Knight didn't quite know what he was about to get himself into.


	2. A Sticky Situation

"You want _what_ now?"

"A lollipop… preferably one of those big, colorful, swirly ones."

Words could not define how embarrassed Meta Knight was feeling right now. First off, he was in Pupu Village's one and only _toy store_ , already a big no-no for him. The fact that Kirby had wandered off a few minutes ago had only made the whole situation worse—he could only imagine the thoughts of the kids giving him weird looks nearby. Their parents must've thought he was insane! He, a highly-decorated member of the _Galaxy Soldier Army_ , was in a _toy store_ , asking the owner about stinking _lollipops!_

"Well, I'd usually have them right here at the register," said the toy store's owner, Gengu, who gestured to a cardboard stand with holes in it—obviously designed to hold lollipops. "But, as you can see, it's empty. I can go check in the back for some more, though."

The whole time Gengu was speaking, Meta Knight could clearly see the dumbfounded, confused expression on the store owner's face—making the knight all the more humiliated.

"Thank you," Meta Knight said, feeling his face's temperature rise to levels he didn't even knew existed.

Gengu only shook his head and left the counter, leaving Meta Knight alone… that is, until a Cappy kid and his mother showed up and stood uncomfortably close to the knight. He could tell from the brand-new soccer ball in the kid's hands and the smelly breath that rudely assaulted his senses that the child was, well, a typical booger-nosed, messy, rambunctious boy.

Meta Knight's eyes met the mother Cappy's gaze, and she gave him a bright yet knowing smile. "So you have a sweet tooth, huh? Don't be ashamed. Even as adults, we all still have that one childish quirk that grew up with us," the mother said with a giggle. The high-pitched tone of her voice alone was able to tell Meta Knight that she was one of those women that were able to prattle for hours on end about a small, frivolous topic.

"For example, my husband still collects seashells! And it's turned into quite an annoying hobby, let me tell you. Every day it seems like he's come home with 'the former home of a special, rare species.' Seriously, he can go on and on about his collection if you let him. At times I just wish he would blah blah blah..."

The woman's blabbing faded as Meta Knight desperately tried to tune her annoying voice out. It didn't help that a painful headache had decided to settle itself behind his eyes.

That's when something slammed _really hard_ into his face, making his headache ten times worse. After recovering from the sudden impact, he groaned and slowly peeled open his eyes—only to find the horrified expression of the Cappy boy.

" _ROBERT! SAY SORRY TO THAT POOR MAN RIGHT NOW!"_ The woman boomed, looking as if she was going to explode from anger.

"U-uh, I'm s-sorry!" stammered the boy, who ran over to his soccer ball, which was suddenly at the wall in the back of the store—Meta Knight assumed that the boy kicked the ball into his face by accident. He was glad he had his mask on: not only did it protect him, but it also was preventing anyone to see his currently beet-red face.

The woman turned back to Meta Knight, completely ditching her strict demeanor. "I am _so_ sorry. Robert can be such a wild, out of control kid sometimes," she said, watching her child run to the back of the store. "I think he gets it from his father," she added with a half-hearted laugh.

"I can relate to that," Meta Knight said, realizing just seconds later what he had just told the woman. _Oh no.._ he thought to himself as he heard the woman's excited squeals. He mentally prepared himself for whatever was coming next—he knew it wouldn't be good at all, especially for his reputation.

"Oh my gosh, you have a little one of your own?! Oh, I bet he or she's adorable, just like you!"

Meta Knight wished he was dead right then and there. Being in the toy store alone was humiliating enough, but having someone think that Kirby was his child and being called adorable just took it to a whole other level of existence.

Seconds later, Gengu walked back to the register, and Meta Knight could already tell what the answer was from the storekeeper's disappointed expression.

"Sorry, I don't have any, and I don't expect to get another shipment in until next week. In the meantime, you can check at Tago's next door," said the shopkeeper, absently rubbing the back of his head.

The warrior nodded, resisting the urge to scream the curse words that were going through his head right now. Instead, he slowly turned around, and called for Kirby: "Kirby! Where are you, we're leaving!"

"Poyo!" responded Kirby from one of the aisles, the pitter-patter of his footsteps growing louder as he made his way up to the register. He had a anticipant look on his face, hoping that his mentor had succeeded in getting a lollipop. Meta Knight felt bad having to burst his bubble, but what other choice was there?

"Well, they don't have any. I'm sorry, buddy," the knight said, but instantly regretted it. Kirby's hopeful smile dropped and turned into an unhappy frown, the infamous puppy-dog eyes making a comeback. Meta Knight could feel guilt starting to twist up his insides again. "Don't worry, though. We're going to go check the store next door and see if they have any," the knight attempted to reassure. Much to his relief, Kirby perked up at his words, the irresistible puppy-dog eyes disappearing—for now, at least.

"Hehe, good luck, you two! Oh, they're so adorable," the two puffballs heard the mother Cappy say as they left the store. Meta Knight quickly hurried Kirby along, desperately wanting to leave before the woman could say anything to embarrass him any further.

* * *

Meta Knight was beyond relieved to be out of the toy store, but he knew his problems were far from over. He didn't exactly realize this until Kirby started acting strange. The child's pace had slowed down to a sluggish crawl, and the pink puff's usually bright azure blue eyes had suddenly dulled. To top it off, Kirby was anxiously trying to tell the knight something, but Meta Knight couldn't understand the child's babbling. From what the knight could tell, it seemed like all of the energy was abruptly drained out of the pink puff. And that panicked Meta Knight: had the child contracted some kind of painful disease?

Not wanting to attract any attention, the knight swiftly lifted the exhausted child off of his feet and rushed into a shaded alley nearby. There, he set the child down and gazed softly into Kirby's dull baby blue eyes. "What's bothering you, Kirby?" he asked the child, his voice full of concern.

Kirby's face twisted into a painful grimace, only raising the worry that had begun to form inside of Meta Knight. With a groan, the child peeled open his now teary eyes and pointed to his stomach. "Your stomach's bothering you?" the knight asked, to which the child responded with a tired nod.

Meta Knight was unsure what to do. There was no way he was taking Kirby to the doctor; he had a rather unpleasant experience the last time he went there. Maybe he could take care of Kirby himself? That was a possible option, but there was one problem: he didn't have any children's medicine at home. But maybe he could buy some—they were headed for Tago's, anyway. Making up his mind, he placed a hand on Kirby's shoulder, the child's glazed eyes looking helplessly up at the knight.

"Do you think you can hang in there for a little while longer? I'll buy some medicine for you," Meta Knight said worriedly. He could see a twinge of fear in Kirby's eyes as the child nodded. "Okay… c'mon, let's go." With that, he helped the tired child to his feet, and they both strolled into the convenience store.

When they walked in, they were greeted by Tago's cheery face and the usual ramble the storekeeper gave everyone.

"Hello, welcome to Tago's convenience sto-" he stopped abruptly when he saw who had just arrived, pleasantly surprised. "Sir Meta Knight! Why, I've never seen _you_ come around here before! What brings you here?"

"I need something," Meta Knight said bluntly, not wishing to strike up a conversation with the shopkeeper.

"Well, that's what my store's for! Just tell me if you need help finding everything," Tago added.

The knight nodded and quickly led Kirby into the medicine aisle. Scanning the shelves carefully, he easily found the medicine he needed. He snatched it off the shelves and made his way to the candy aisle, intending to look for a lollipop. But, just like the toy store, he had no luck—there didn't seem to be any of the elusive candies anywhere. So, with only the bottle of medicine in his hands, he guided the now disappointed Kirby to the cash register.

"Did you find everything you were looking for?" asked Tago, scanning the bottle after Meta Knight placed it on the counter.

"Actually, no," responded Meta Knight, pulling out some money. "You wouldn't happen to have any of those giant, colorful lollipops, would you?"

The same exact expression Gengu had when Meta Knight asked him about the lollipops was now on Tago's face. Except, Tago actually looked a little amused, too. "Well, I'm afraid you're out of luck. I ran out of them just a few days ago," said the storekeeper.

The heart-melting frown and puppy-dog eyes returned to Kirby's face once again, and, acting on instinct, Meta Knight placed a hand on the child's shoulder. "I see, thanks anyway," he said, handing the shopkeeper the money.

Tago didn't say anything in response; he gave Meta Knight both the medicine and some change. That's when he spotted little Kirby: the child looked undeniably exhausted, and was leaning on Meta Knight like he was unable to stand on his own two feet. "Is… is he okay?" the shopkeeper asked, gesturing to the pink puff.

Meta Knight was caught off-guard. What could he say?! He wasn't even sure there was anything he _could_ say that wouldn't prompt any rumors, as Pupu Village was very small; news about the town's pink hero being sick would spread quickly.

"Uh... he's, um, tired. That's it," said Meta Knight, unable to conceal the nervousness in his voice. He eyed the door, and, after an awkward moment of silence, made a break for it. "Okay, bye!" he yelled as he ran with Kirby in tow.

As soon as he set foot outside the store, however, he heard a familiar, high-pitched voice. Or, rather, a voice he _never_ wished to hear again.

"Look! There he is!"

In the center of the village, by the town's mighty, symbolic oak tree, was the Cappy woman from the toy store. With her was what must have been at least two dozen more Cappy women, who were sharing with each other the gossip of the town. But they all dropped what they were doing once they caught sight of Meta Knight, and squealed like fangirls. Soon they were rushing towards the knight, going at speeds Meta Knight didn't think were possible for a Cappy. He could make out them screaming things like "They're so cute!" and "Let's take them home!"

The knight knew that he didn't want to hear whatever the Cappy woman had told everyone—especially if it had made them react like _this._

He slowly backed away, but then abruptly picked Kirby up, made like a Wheelie and ran—he didn't care where, as long as it was far away from the mass of giddy, fangirling Cappies chasing after him. He eventually reached the outskirts of town, and dove into the wild overgrowth that was conveniently placed there. To everyone else's point of view, he had just made one of his infamous, mysterious disappearances—but to Meta Knight, it was an easy, life-saving tactic… in more ways than one.

The two puffballs nervously held their breath as they heard the women pass by, the Cappies' excited giggling slowly turning into confused murmuring. After what seemed like an eternity, the Cappies, now disappointed, started walking sadly back towards town, allowing Meta Knight and Kirby to come out of the underbrush.

"Well, that was close, huh, Kirby?" Meta Knight asked. When he didn't get an answer, he glanced down at the child in his arms, and was shocked to see that Kirby looked even worse than earlier: the rosy glow on the child's face had completely faded, leaving behind a pale white color that was frightening to see. The pink puff had a death grip on his mentor, and was whimpering uncontrollably; a pained grimace distorting his face.

Surprised, Meta Knight held Kirby closer, rubbing the child's back as a gesture of comfort. That didn't instigate any kind of response from the pink puff, so he couldn't even begin to imagine the amounts of pain the child was going through. He knew he couldn't just sit there while Kirby suffered, so he wasted no time in sprinting towards the castle, all the while whispering soft words of comfort to the distressed child in his arms.


	3. Heating Things Up

"And now for our next prize, the Starboard Microwave, Model 2000! This amazing piece of technology is a result from the latest in food-heating research! And with the brand new Defrost Mode, you can defrost your frozen foods in record time! Alright, contestants, make your guesses! We'll be right back on 'The Cost is Lost!'"

Blade sighed as he lustfully eyed the prize being given away on TV. "Seriously, I should go on this game show! Then I could win all these fancy new gadgets!" He yelled at his brother, Sword, who was currently in the kitchen.

"And make all of my hard work trying to fix the microwave a waste? No way!" countered Sword, briefly turning his power drill on to help prove his point.

"Oh, but I bet technology has advanced so much that things won't break anymore!"

"Foolish Blade, you can never trust technology these days! Remember what happened to Robo-Escargon?" Sword said, referring to a past yet somewhat recent event. One day, the king's servant, Escargon, got fed up with the king asking him to do things for him almost constantly. So the snail decided to make a robot that looked almost identical to him so he wasn't the one to respond to the king's orders. Escargon ended up having to ask Holy Nightmare for help, as the robot was mercilessly destroyed multiple times by the king. The robot was equipped with an expensive part that gave it feelings—and an unwanted "killing machine" mode, which, as luck would have it, was activated by the king. The robot started wrecking havoc, but was thankfully stopped by Kirby. If there was one thing everybody learned that day, it was that technology was extremely unreliable.

"Ugh, whatever," said Blade, seeming to care less about what happened with the ill-fated robot. "Can you just hurry up already? I want to heat up my coffee!"

"Have patience! It takes time to repair such a delicate machine!" Sword said sarcastically. He then turned his power drill back on and continued working on the microwave, the loud sound drowning out his brother's angry yells.

Blade scoffed grumpily and crossed his arms, seeing that he'd just have to unwillingly take his brother's advice and wait. He begrudgingly watched the commercials on TV for a while until he heard a loud _snap_ , followed by his brother shouting angrily.

" _DANG IT!"_

The green-clad knight smirked at hearing his brother's frustration. Now Sword knew how _he_ felt!

His little celebration was cut short, however, when the door to the apartment suddenly swung open wildly. Blade instinctively stood up and gained a battle stance, half-expecting something dangerous to be in the doorway. Instead, he was greeted with the sight of his mentor, Meta Knight. Relieved, his posture relaxed, but he also couldn't help but become a bit curious as he spotted Kirby, pale and exhausted, in Meta Knight's arms.

"Sir, what's go-"

"No time to talk!" Meta Knight said with a hint of urgency in his tone, interrupting his student. He rushed past Blade, into the kitchen, and, not noticing Sword, ran into the bathroom and swiftly closed the door, leaving behind two very confused knights.

"What just happened?" Sword asked Blade, who had just walked into the kitchen.

Dumbfounded by his mentor's odd behavior, Blade shrugged. "I don't know. But, I think the real question is," he paused and walked over to the microwave, which now had a large gaping hole in the spot where the control panel used to be. He smugly put his hand on his hip and gestured dramatically to the dismantled device, saying, "What just happened _here?"_ He then snickered in amusement as he watched his brother struggle to find an explanation.

Meta Knight, meanwhile, had placed Kirby next to the sink and made quick work of opening the bottle of medicine. He poured the appropriate amount of the liquid into a small measuring cup that was provided, and tried giving it to Kirby—but the child only made a disgusted face at the medicine and turned away from it.

"Kirby, I got you watermelon-flavored for a reason. This will make you feel better, so drink it," Meta Knight said, once again trying to pour the liquid down the child's throat.

Upon hearing that the medicine was watermelon-flavored, Kirby gladly downed the liquid, but groaned as another wave of pain attacked him. "Just give it time, it will work eventually," assured Meta Knight, picking the child back up and cradling him in his arms.

Now feeling a wave of relief wash over him, Meta Knight walked out of the bathroom—only to find Sword and Blade in a heated argument.

"I didn't know that the control panel would fall off!"

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have had the drill moving so fast!"

"I was trying to take the screw out!"

"Apparently that's not the only thing you were trying to get out!"

"For the last time, I WASN'T TRYING TO TAKE THE CONTROL PANEL OUT OF THE DAMN MICROWAVE!"

Meta Knight cleared his throat, catching the attention of the two bickering siblings. "Can one of you please explain what is going on here?" Meta Knight asked them, voice stern, eyes narrowed.

"The microwave broke, and Mr. Fix-it here is trying to repair it. _But,_ he doesn't know _anything_ about how microwaves are put together!" Blade explained in a mocking tone of voice.

"Shut up, Blade!"

"No, _you_ shut up!"

"Both of you be quiet!" Meta Knight snapped. "You two are acting like children. I expected more from you!" he half-yelled, anger as well as exhaustion audible in his voice. His two squires hung their heads in shame at those words, yet couldn't help but give each other death stares.

"Anyway, about the microwave," continued Meta Knight, glancing at the broken appliance, "I believe it's beyond repairing. As punishment for your inexcusable behavior, I expect both of you to have it replaced by the end of the week."

"We understand," they said simultaneously, both sounding equally disappointed.

In the awkward silence that followed, Blade found the opportunity to ask about Kirby, who was still in Meta Knight's arms. "Um, Sir? What happened to Kirby?"

"Yeah, is the little guy okay?" Sword added, only now noticing the pink puff.

"To be honest with you, I don't know. I was hanging out with him when he suddenly got tired and told me his stomach was hurting. I gave him some medicine for indigestion, so we'll see what happens..." said Meta Knight, sounding completely unsure of himself.

Sword and Blade were surprised, they weren't sure what they could say to _that._ "...Sounds like you've had a pretty rough day," Sword said after another moment of silence.

"Don't you _dare_ get me started on that! My day was just… _uuuurrgh!"_ yelled Meta Knight angrily, not wishing to recount the events he had gone through earlier. With a huff, he hastily stomped off into the living room, once again leaving his two squires scratching their heads.

After exchanging confused glances with his brother, Blade shrugged and decided to join the two puffballs in the living room. There, he found that Meta Knight had wrapped Kirby cozily in a blanket, with a tin bucket sitting on the floor next to the couch.

"Sir? Don't you think that's a little too much?" Blade asked.

"You can never be too prepared," replied Meta Knight. Afterwards, he gave the child a tight squeeze, saying, "I'm going to look for something. In the meantime, if you need anything, just give a shout. I'm sure one of us will hear you. Got it?"

The child nodded, desperately trying to ignore the pain in his stomach.

"And you," Meta Knight continued, looking at Blade. "Watch him for me."

"Uh… sure, whatever," Blade said, joining Kirby on the couch, just in time for the game show on TV to start back. Satisfied, Meta Knight released a loud sigh to let out all of his pent-up stress and left the room. After making sure that the knight was gone, Blade whispered to Kirby, "Man, if he was your father… he'd be a pretty good one, that's for sure."

* * *

Meanwhile, Meta Knight had gone into his bedroom, intending to fulfill his promise he had made to Kirby earlier: he was determined to find one of those lollipops. Having a sweet tooth, candy was irresistible to the knight, so he had accumulated a nice stash of candy over the years. He kept it in his room both so he could keep it a secret, and so he could access it whenever he felt like it. Since he had so much candy, he was sure he must have one of those special lollipops _somewhere._

He instinctively moved to his closet and pushed its sliding door aside. His eyes went to floor, at the right corner, where three large jars, filled to the brim with candy, were located. He pulled all of them out at once and carried them to a wide, open spot on the floor. There, he put the jars on the floor, and removed the lid from the first jar. He then started digging through the sweets.

Caramels, chocolates, chocolates with _nuts…_ nope, no lollipops. He went to the second jar: jelly beans, fruity chewy candies, mints… still no lollipops. Meta Knight could already sense the disappointment slowly coming to devour him as he opened the third and final jar. This one actually _did_ have lollipops, but they were the tiny, cheap ones. He'd rather give Kirby one just like the lollipop that was dropped in the sand. Why were they so hard to find?!

With a sigh, the knight set the jar down, and looked at the mess he had made on the floor: all of his candies were in a colorful, mixed-up pile; no doubt that it would take forever to sort all of them properly. Not feeling like cleaning up at the moment, Meta Knight made his way to the bedroom door, and reached for the doorknob—only to find that his hands were sticky, probably from rummaging through his endless amount of sweets.

Grumbling angrily, he left his bedroom and headed back to the bathroom so he could wash his hands. Along the way, he passed Sword, who was carrying the microwave out of the kitchen. Other than that, his trip to the bathroom was uneventful. That is, until he heard something that nearly gave him a heart attack.

"Kni-kni?… _Kni-kni!?"_

That was Kirby, _screaming,_ sounding extremely panicked—immediately Meta Knight knew that something was wrong.

"Sir?!"

That was Blade, sounding equally as panicked. "Blade?! What's going on?!" Meta Knight yelled back, feeling his heart pounding madly in his chest.

"He's green! He's—AAH!"

The knight couldn't take the frightening suspense anymore; he rushed into the living room, and was about to go to Kirby's side—but then he was met with a very, _very_ unusual sight.

Kirby was leaning over the tin bucket Meta Knight had left for him, taking deep, labored breaths, tears streaming down his face. Blade was standing up, gazing into the bucket with deep curiosity rather than trying to calm Kirby.

Shaking off his confusion, Meta Knight ran over to Kirby and held the child close, gently shushing the whimpering child. "It's okay, Kirby, come here," he said, giving the child a comforting hug for what felt like the millionth time that day. He then looked to Blade, seeking questions.

As if he had read Meta Knight's mind, Blade started speaking. "Kirby threw up… but… well, just come here and see," he said, pointing to the bucket.

Confused, Meta Knight got up from the couch and looked into the bucket, expecting to see a gross puddle of vomit. Instead, he saw something completely different.

"The D-Meister 3000, the walking, talking action figure! Does karate chops and other cool moves!" said Blade, reading the text that was on a large box in the bucket. He pulled it out and the two knights curiously examined the box.

"A… toy?" Meta Knight said, confused. In the box was a blue, red, and yellow robot. The king's insignia – a hand with two fingers extended to represent peace – decorated its arms, legs, head and body. Overall, it resembled King Dedede. Meta Knight could identify it from those corny action cartoons that Bun liked to watch on TV.

"What the heck?" Blade commented.

 _But if this was in the bucket, that could only mean…_ Meta Knight mused, looking down at Kirby in his arms. The child had thankfully had stopped crying, and actually looked a lot better than before. "Kirby, did you eat this?"

Kirby glanced at the toy robot, before smiling sheepishly and nodding.

"Now, I'm not mad at you, if that's what you're thinking. I just want to know… why? Why would you eat this?" asked Meta Knight.

Meta Knight and Blade watched Kirby, awaiting to see what the child would say. But when the child didn't say anything for nearly five minutes, they realized that they were waiting for an answer that would never come.

"Well, look on the bright side," Blade said cheerfully, breaking the silence. "Kirby's feeling all better!" He and Kirby then gave each other a well-executed high five.

As the child squirmed out of his arms, Meta Knight couldn't help but agree with Blade. It was a huge relief to see the color returning to Kirby's cheeks and the child's eyes shining brighter with energy again.

"As for this," Blade continued, looking at the boxed toy in his hand, "Maybe we could give it to Bun for his birthday. It would be a kind gesture, at least." He then left the living room, leaving Meta Knight and Kirby by themselves.

That's when the two puffballs heard a noise coming from the hallway; someone yelling, to be precise. Curious, Meta Knight padded over to the door with Kirby close behind. The knight opened the door and the two puffballs poked their heads into the hallway, peering around for whoever had made the noise.

Soon Bun rounded the corner, running swiftly past the two puffballs; his hair was flying, his breathing was quick with excitement. Not too long after, his sister, Fumu, rounded the corner as well, running just as fast—only, she didn't seem as excited as her brother. In fact, she actually seemed a bit annoyed, judging from the agitation visible on her face.

"Fumu," Meta Knight called, catching the attention of the young girl and causing her to skid to a stop. "What's going on?"

"Someone's giving out lollipops in Pupu Village, and Bun wants one," she said with an exasperated sigh. "I keep telling him that he shouldn't eat so many sweets, but he never listens to me! I guess he doesn't care if he gets another cavity..." After that, she continued chasing her younger brother, her footsteps echoing throughout the vast castle hallways.

Kirby and Meta Knight looked at each other with a knowing expression, both having a pretty good feeling that they both had the same exact idea. Exchanging determined nods, they ran down the hallway after the two kids, never before feeling so light on their feet.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for the reviews and feedback. The next and final chapter will be up this Friday. :)**


	4. Anytime

When Meta Knight and Kirby arrived at town, they didn't use the main pathway, and instead walked through the bushes to stay hidden, just in case the Cappy women from earlier were still there. Thankfully, they were nowhere in sight, and were replaced by a sea of noisy, excited children, eager to get their hands on the sweet treats.

Kirby first emerged from the bushes, followed by his mentor soon after. The child scanned the crowd of children, quickly spotting a much taller figure, who, despite to be looking overwhelmed by the boisterous kids, was doing her best in trying to give everyone a free lollipop.

With his target in sight, Kirby firmly gripped his mentor's hand started making his way though the crowd. Meta Knight willingly joined the child, only because they were so close to achieving what they had been trying to do all day: getting Kirby a new lollipop.

Maneuvering through the last bit of children, the two puffballs reached their destination—only for Meta Knight's jaw to drop from shock at the sheer coincidence of the scene before him.

The Cappy giving out the lollipops was none other than the woman who had embarrassed him in the toy store. At her side was the little girl that given him the lollipop earlier that day—or, rather, the one who had triggered this one headache of a day.

The woman and the child simultaneously noticed Meta Knight, and their faces donned an expression of joy and realization, respectively.

The little girl excitedly pulled the woman's hand, saying, "Mommy! That's the man I gave the lollipop to earlier!"

Kirby eagerly skipped up to the mother Cappy; meanwhile, Meta Knight suddenly found himself desperately wanting to disappear from the scene before anything egotistically disastrous could happen to him, but his feet seemed to be stubbornly glued to the ground.

"Really, sweetie? I saw him in the toy store earlier! Now that's a coincidence if I ever called it one!" said the woman. It was then that she noticed Kirby looking up at her, or, rather, the lollipops in her hand. "And I saw you too, didn't I?" she said to the pink puff, grinning.

"Poyo!" Kirby demanded, completely disregarding the woman's friendly comment and reaching for the tempting candies that she held.

"Okay, okay, here you go, little one," the mother Cappy said with a giggle, giving Kirby what he had been waiting for all day.

As Kirby received the candy, the biggest smile Meta Knight had ever seen slowly spread across the child's face. With an elated squeal, Kirby stuck the whole lollipop in his mouth, just like he did with the other one. And, just like earlier, Meta Knight was unable to contain a smile of his own.

His smile dropped, however, when the mother Cappy acknowledged him. "What about you? You were asking for a lollipop at the toy store earlier. Did you lose the one my little girl gave you earlier?" Not waiting for an answer, she approached the knight and offered a candy, continuing, "Would you like another one?"

Meta Knight wheezed, unable to find the right words to say at first. He then waved his hands in denial and said, "N-no, I gave it to him earlier," he gestured to Kirby. "But he dropped it. I've been trying to get another one for him ever since."

"Oh, but I think you should take one, too," the woman said, once again attempting to give Meta Knight a lollipop.

The knight could feel his face starting to burn from embarrassment again as he tried to turn down the woman's offer: "No, really—I appreciate the offer, but I don't want one."

The woman pouted, but a small hint of enthusiasm was still somehow visible on her face. "Just take it. I accidentally bought too many of these for my daughter's birthday party, and I've been trying to get rid of them ever since."

"Seriously, I-"

"You know what?" The woman said, interrupting Meta Knight. She turned to Kirby and placed another lollipop in the puff's hands, saying, "Take this, just in case your father changes his mind."

Kirby threw the mother Cappy a confused look. Meta Knight wasn't his father. He did love his mentor very much, but he was pretty sure he and Meta Knight weren't related in any way.

Shaking his head, Kirby brushed the thought aside. Instead, he put on another beaming smile and said to the kind woman before leaving, "Tank-yuuu!"

"You're welcome, little one!" replied the woman, a smile returning to her face as she waved goodbye to the pink puff.

With that, the child turned around to return to his mentor, but, to his surprise, Meta Knight was nowhere in sight—dozens of noisy Cappy children were blocking his view. Clutching both lollipops close to his chest, Kirby wandered through the crowd, looking any sign of his mentor. He didn't have any luck until he made it out of the chaotic mass of children; he then spotted Meta Knight, sitting on a brick formation built around the village's oak tree.

Kirby ran to the oak tree and joined his mentor, sitting right next to the knight. The shade of the enormous plant blocked the sunlight, providing the two puffballs some much-needed relief from the heat being radiated from the harsh summer sun.

"So, she insisted that you take it, huh?" Meta Knight said, not looking at the child. "Women are very stubborn." He laughed after saying this, but it was a fake laugh—Kirby couldn't hear any life or joy in it.

After sticking his lollipop back into his mouth, the pink puff placed his free paw on his mentor's arm, making Meta Knight turn his attention to Kirby.

The lollipop stick sticking out of Kirby's mouth made the child look undeniably goofy, but that couldn't draw Meta Knight away from the fact that the child was giving him a saddening look of concern.

He averted his eyes from Kirby and let out a deep, tired sigh. "Today… today has been very stressful, Kirby. I'm just tired, is all," confessed Meta Knight. He rubbed his head underneath his mask, clearly very stressed about the day's turn of events.

With the new information, Kirby pulled the lollipop out of his mouth, and instead opted for licking it thoughtfully. Then, another smile played on his face as he got an idea. "Kni-kni, come!" he said enthusiastically, hopping off of the brick formation.

"Where are we going?" the knight asked, also leaving the tree so he could follow the child.

"Home."

* * *

Kirby's house was literally nothing much to write home about. It was a very small, white dome with a door, window and chimney. The child didn't mind about how plain and simple it was, nor did he care about the size—he himself was small, so it wasn't any problem for him. Plus, he was usually out and about all day, only using his home at night for a necessary slumber.

With his lollipop in his mouth, Kirby opened his door and gestured inside, inviting Meta Knight in. The knight squeezed through, barely fitting though the small opening. Kirby came through flawlessly and closed the door. The child pulled his lollipop out of his mouth and walked over to his bed, pointing to it.

"Sit!" he commanded his mentor.

"Kirby, that's your bed, I can't-"

" _Sit,"_ Kirby echoed, with more sternness in his voice than before.

With a sigh, Meta Knight complied and sat on the child's small bed, taking up a lot of room on it. Still, Kirby found enough room to join the knight, placing himself right next to his mentor on the bed.

Then, Kirby did something completely unexpected to Meta Knight: he held out the second lollipop, offering it to his mentor. "Poyo!" he chirped joyfully.

"Kirby, I can't take that. Save it for yourself for later or something."

The pink puff seemed as if he wouldn't take no for an answer, as he continued to hold out the sugary candy. "Poyo," he insisted, a bit of annoyance visible on his face.

"No, Kirby, really, I-"

Meta Knight didn't have time to finish, as Kirby scared him half to death by forcing the candy into the eye slot in his mask, blinding him. He could hear the child giggle afterwards—no doubt he looked ridiculous right now, with a lollipop stuck in his mask. Thank goodness it was only Kirby that saw him; he would probably be an embarrassed laughingstock if anyone else were there.

The lollipop itself was sticking through Meta Knight's mask far enough that he could actually taste it—and it satisfied a craving for sugar the knight didn't even knew he had. He felt around in front of him for the lollipop stick, and, when he found it, he firmly gripped the stick and pulled. It took some effort to pry it out because the candy was surprisingly sticky.

"Hm, not so bad," said Meta Knight, making the child at his side laugh again. He then pulled his mask off so he could enjoy the candy easier—Kirby saw his face before, so he didn't mind taking his mask off whenever it was just him and Kirby by themselves.

A peaceful quiet followed, and the two puffballs sat there quietly, enjoying both their candies and each other's presence.

"Kni-kni okay?" Kirby said suddenly.

Meta Knight smiled warmly at the child. "Yes, Kirby, I feel okay now… thanks to you." He wrapped his arm around the pink puff as he said those last words, making the child coo happily from the sudden affection.

Kirby continued to lick his lollipop, all the while cuddling up to his mentor, another smile slowly forming on his face. The sight filled Meta Knight with joy; he loved to see the child so happy.

"You, know, buddy," Meta Knight quietly said, drawing Kirby out of an affection-triggered trance. "Today was very stressful, very tiring. But, to be honest, I'd do it all over again if I had to… just for you."

The child gazed silently up at him for a moment, before surprising him and hugging him tightly. "Tank-yuu, Kni-kni."

Smiling again, Meta Knight returned the embrace. "You're welcome, Kirby. Anytime."

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the castle…**

"I've been on hold for nearly thirty minutes now…"

"Blade, just hang up! I told you, we'll go to the store tomorrow and get a new one," said Sword as he walked to a desk where Blade was currently on hold with a sales representative.

He peered over Blade's shoulder, at an appliance magazine his brother had found. "Which one are you planning to get, anyway?" he inquired.

In response, Blade pointed to a black, fancy sleek microwave: the most expensive one in the catalog, to be precise. "That one. The same exact one they were giving away on TV," he replied, sounding overly proud of himself.

"What?! Blade, are you crazy?! We don't have that kind of money!" Sword yelled.

Blade snickered and said, "Don't worry about it. I'll convince Sir Meta Knight to give us a raise."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Sword said in disbelief, scoffing.

"Simple: I'm going to smooth-talk him," said Blade conceitedly.

"You're going to _smooth-talk_ Sir Meta Knight."

"Yup."

"You can't _smooth-talk_ Sir Meta Knight. It's not possible!"

"You can if you do it the way I do!"

"How?" asked Sword skeptically.

An awkward silence passed between the two brothers, before Blade blurted out sheepishly, "Uh, well, you see… I _beg."_

"You _beg."_

Another awkward silence, and Blade could feel his face get hot from embarrassment as his brother stared at him in disbelief. Suddenly, a monotonous, robotic voice spoke from his phone.

"I'm sorry, but all of our sales representatives are busy at this time; please try again later."

" _SON OF A-"_

* * *

 **A/N: Eh, so that's the end of this silly l'il thing I whipped up the other day; just so I could have a break from Soldier On. I had a _Blowout Blast_ writing it!**

…

 **I'll take my leave now.**


End file.
